In Philadelphia, adolescent and young adult Black/African American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ (LGBTQ+) persons experience a disproportionate rate of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Syphilis. At the intersection of their race, sexual and/or gender minority status, Black LGBTQ+ people experience SDOH that serve as barriers to optimal health and wellbeing. To address disproportionate rates of STDs and SDOH barriers faced by Black/African American LGBTQ+ adolescents and young adults in Philadelphia, PHMC proposes the Adolescents and Young Adults Eliminating STD Stigma (AYAESS) Project. AYAESS will focus on Black/African American LGBTQ+ persons ages 15 to 24 in Philadelphia as the priority population. PHMC will apply community engagement methods and multi-sector partnerships to address the Healthy People 2030 goal to reduce STDs and complications and improve access to quality STD care. PHMC will also support CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention’s (NCHHSTP) Strategic Plan (2022 – 2026) to improve the health of populations disproportionately affected by HIV, viral hepatitis, STDs and TB. Through the AYAESS Project, a collective impact framework will be utilized to develop interventions to help decrease STD rates and address contributing SDOH. Long-term outcomes of the project include: 1) decrease risky sexual behaviors among Black LGBTQ+ persons ages 15 to 24 in Philadelphia; 2) decrease STD disparities among Black LGBTQ+ persons ages 15 to 24; 3) increase quality of and accessibility to STD prevention services; and 4) decrease effects of social issues related to STD transmission for AYAESS priority population; and 6) sustain improvements made to the STD education, prevention, testing and treatment services system for Black LGBTQ+ adolescents and young adults. AYAESS will collaborative with members of the priority population and leverage expertise through parti
cipation on the project’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) which will include Black LGBTQ+ community members engaged in LGBTQ+ initiatives, PHMC’s CAB members and project Implementation Partner CABs representing, Attic Youth Center, COLOURS and Galaei. PHMC will leverage existing relationships with 17 partners representing clinical services providers, multi service community-based organizations, a hospital system, universities, a homeless services provider, four Philadelphia offices, a faith-based institution and a philanthropy organization to form a Black LGBTQ+ Sexual Health Resilience Coalition. To ensure communication between the CAB and Coalition, the CAB will appoint two people representing the Coalition. The project will leverage existing organizational resources to work collaboratively and assist with intervention design and implementation to address STD rates and SDOH. To create community awareness of the AYAESS Project, a multi-pronged communication plan inclusive of social media, community outreach, and digital resource materials will be deployed. A rigorous process and outcome evaluation will be conducted to measure both short-term and mid-term outcomes, with participation from program staff, the CAB, the Coalition, and key partners. Overarching evaluation questions will include: 1) To what extent was the population of focus involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions to address STD disparities and related SDOH? 2) To what extent were community-designed systems and environmental strategies to address STD prevention implemented and evaluated? 3) How did the multi-sector partnerships support development, implementation, and evaluation of these intervention strategies? and 4) To what extent did communication successfully increase awareness of STD disparities, sexual health and community services, and awareness and use of services?
